PM to join A Tale of Drowned Men (Kailani)

Who says dead men tell no tales?

(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy role playing forums. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)

A lawless town of anarchists, built on the ruins of an ancient mining city. [Lore]

Moderator: Morose

A Tale of Drowned Men (Kailani)

Postby Anja Nightwatcher on November 9th, 2018, 10:05 pm

Image
The dock where countless unfortunates had flung themselves to their deaths was falling to pieces in the onslaught of the phantom's rage. Crunches of wood torn from their foundation echoed amidst the panicked shrieks of warning that the ever loyal Maisa screamed any time the threat of danger drew too close to the Drykas and Sverfra. The roars of rage from the rampaging ghost mingled with the everpresent dirge, swirling into a war song. The air around them shivered with cold, and Anja gritted his teeth against the sting.

Kailani's cries, however earnest, fell on deaf ears. The Ghost's frothing rage was a thing of hatred and anguish that transcended words. This ghost had been here for some time. Rather than acknowledge his problems and move towards a solution that could ease his grief and regrets, he had wandered and forgot. And now that he had remembered, the terror of the Ghost's power was fully realized. Anja could not fight a ghost of this strength. Even if he had the skill, defeating this phantom would only bring its hatred back to bear once it had rematerialized. Right now Anja had one thought on his mind: survive. The ghost could not keep up these antics forever. Even the most powerful of spirits would reach their limit eventually. They just had to wait him out.

Kailani, bless her kind, foolhardy soul, was nearly brained by a board as her hands spread outwards in a gesture of peace. “He can't hear us!” Anja called out to her. “He's stuck in the rage of his memories! We need to give him time to burn out!” Even in this moment of very real danger, even as Anja's body stung with the cold and frost clung to his eyelashes, the Eiyon's thoughts lingered on how to save this poor, wretched soul.

The dock trembled with a creak of warning, and Anja sidestepped a board nearly yanked from beneath his feet. Anja's eyes fell to the wooden floor at their feet and he let in a sharp breath as he recognized the ghost's design. “Quick!” Anja said, grasping Kailani by the wrist. “He's trying to split us off from the land! We need to get off the dock!” The dock groaned in agreement and shuddered. The boards that had been torn away were all between them and the land, and the few steps of evasion the pair had taken was driving them further down the dock and away from the safety of the shore. Anja stared at the holes between them and the land, but there was no real choice. The Eiyon did not fancy chances of combat in a murky bay full of corpses. With Kailani in tow, Anja raced towards the shore as the ground beneath them began to give way.
(NaNo 466)
User avatar
Anja Nightwatcher
Ghost Hunter
 
Posts: 262
Words: 298384
Joined roleplay: February 15th, 2018, 3:26 pm
Race: Human, Drykas
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes

A Tale of Drowned Men (Kailani)

Postby Kailani on November 10th, 2018, 2:33 am

“How much time is that going to take?!” Kailani shouted as boards started flying left and right, heart beating a frantic tattoo in her chest. Who would have known the dead to be capable of such rage? It would seem Anja had not spoken lightly when he had warned her of the dangers of staying. She was starting to regret that decision.

When Anja grabbed her wrist, she made to follow, running down the pier as fast as her legs would carry her. A board collapsed underneath her feet, the Svefra crying out as her ankle was snagged. She recovered quickly, managing to regain her balance, free her leg, and continue on. By then, her adrenaline was running high, blood pumping through her veins in rhythm to her hurried footfalls against the planks. Almost there, almost there…

Mere steps away from their destination, her luck ran out, an entire section of the pier giving way and collapsing beneath her with an echoing crack. “No!” she screamed, bright blue eyes wide in alarm as she grasped futilely for Anja’s fingers. She maintained her grip for a moment only before dropping into the bay below with a resounding splash.

Kailani wasn’t sure how far down she plunged, arms and legs kicking frantically against the current as she fought to keep her composure. Her senses opened as soon as she hit the water, desperately feeling around to regain her bearings. There was very little life present around the aptly-named Dead Man’s Swagger, and the one life form she could feel nearby was heading in her direction. Fast.

Before she could turn to react to the oncoming creature, the Svefra felt a massive force slam into her ribs, breath leaving her in a whoosh of bubbles as she was knocked violently to the side. Stunned and paralyzed with agony, Kailani had no time to react before whatever it was slammed into her again and pushed her further beneath the water.

The murky depths made it difficult to see, the dazed Svefra aimlessly treading water and attempting to ignore the searing pain in her side while she fought to make sense of her surroundings. Her foot brushed against something hard, and Kailani looked down to see what she had knocked into. Upon closer inspection, she launched herself backward in horror as her heel glanced off the bloated and desiccated face of a weeks old corpse. Her back collided with yet another solid shape, nausea rising in her throat as she discovered another body well into decay. Everywhere she looked were bodies in various states of decomposition, a grisly and macabre graveyard of skeletal smiles and distended flesh. While examining the body with Anja on the pier earlier had not particularly bothered her, falling into a watery pit of cadavers was a different matter entirely.

She could feel panic rising in her chest, writhing and turning beneath the water as she sought her adversary amongst the sea of corpses. You can’t get hysterical now, Kailani firmly reprimanded herself, forcing down the surge of terror that threatened to overtake her senses. Panic, and you’re dead. We’re not dying today. With a massive force of will, she managed to bring herself back under control. Oceanus mark glowing, she reached out again, grasping for the being that sought to attack her.

There it was, to her right! Kailani turned sharply to face the oncoming threat, a juvenile tiger shark only inches smaller than she was. The irony of such an animal was not lost on her. Her pod’s Pardisa was trying to kill her. If she could have found it within her to laugh at that moment, she would have. The gods had a strange sense of humor.

The Svefra could feel the animal building up for another assault, heart racing as she reached out to put a stop to it. Luckily, the shark was still small enough that she could probably control it. If not, she had to be prepared to swim…and fast.

Closing her eyes and muttering a prayer, Kailani sought the creature’s mind, Laviku’s gift flowing through her. As soon as she made contact, reaching to assert her will, she felt cold, frozen like her entire body was encased in ice. Her lips turned blue, her heart starting to slow while her brow furrowed in confusion. Was that…?

Kailani physically reeled back as she was forced from the shark’s mind, eyes flying open. Oh, no. It didn’t take her long to figure out what had just happened. Their ghostly friend was inside the shark.

Time to rethink this approach, she decided, rapidly propelling herself toward the surface. Her lungs were burning, desperate for air, and she had little choice now but to try and outswim the possessed shark. Just as the rippling waves of the surface water came into view, she felt a tug at her pants, pain ripping through her again as sharp teeth grazed the back of her ankle. No! Her other foot kicked toward the animal’s face, heel smashing repeatedly into its nose before she finally forced it to let go.

She took advantage of the brief reprieve and clawed wildly for the surface. At last, she managed to break above water, spewing water before drawing in a ragged breath. “Anja!” she cried breathlessly. “The ghost is possessing the shark!” No more than that could she explain before she was dragged back under.

NaNo WC: 900


Image
Kailani
Daughter of the Sea
 
Posts: 153
Words: 176158
Joined roleplay: September 16th, 2018, 5:16 am
Location: Sunberth
Race: Human, Svefra
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 1
Overlored (1)

A Tale of Drowned Men (Kailani)

Postby Anja Nightwatcher on November 21st, 2018, 11:11 pm

Image
Anja’s heart plunged into his stomach as the dock shuddered and collapsed underneath Kailani. Their fingers brushed together for the barest fraction of a moment, but before Anja could take hold of the woman’s hand she slid out of his grip and into the murky waters below. “Kailani!” Anja shouted, as the woman sunk under the surface of the water with a scream of fear, echoed by Maisa’s own scream of warning. The moment her head vanished beneath the waves, like a switch being flipped, the frost in the air was gone. Dread surged through Anja’s core, and he rushed to the edge of the tattered pier, eyes flitting across the surface of the water in search of movement. It was far too still, both above and beneath the waves. The chaos that had torn the pier to shreds only moments before had was strikingly absent. Where was she?! Anja didn't allow himself to indulge in the guilt threatening to overwhelm him. He had no time for it!

The water abruptly split and Kailani came gasping to the surface, coughing up corpse tainted water. The woman had surfaced too far from the pier for Anja to reach her, but he tried anyways, bending down onto his knees and reaching out his hand in the hopes that she might be able to kick her way over towards him and let him yank her out of the disease infested soup. It was not to be. Anja only had enough time to hear her gasp out the danger laying underneath the waves before she was seized forcefully and dragged under the surface of the water once more.

Anja swore violently, a string of abusive Pavi that his grandmother would have boxed him between the ears for. He yanked off his coat and tossed it at the shore, then ripped his bastard sword out of his sash and closed his eyes. Yes, there. Even deep beneath the murky waters and hidden in the body of a shark, no ghost could hide from an Eiyon. He could both hear and feel the off-white essence swirling inside its living shell. He opened his eyes and studied the surface of the water. The thrashing of the water deep below was probably Kailani. Gods, this was going to be risky. Anja whispered a prayer to Kihala, focused on the off-white substance only he could see, and plunged his bastard sword beneath the waves.

The blade glanced against something under the water, and Anja saw the ghost spasm violently in reaction to it. He was unsure of what he had managed to strike, but when Anja pulled his sword up and out of the water, there was blood on it. Not a lot, but some. Anja could also see a small cloud of red forming underneath the water. Anja had not intended to kill, or even severely injure the shark. He just wanted it off Kailani. She was a sverfra, so she should be a strong swimmer, right? Regardless, the ghost would not feel its host's pain, so they needed the distraction.

The tactic worked remarkably well. Too well, perhaps. Anja felt the soulmist within the ghost flare, and suddenly it had lunged itself up and out of the water, directly at him. Anja had a flash of a moment to see where he had cut the creature, a small slice on its tail, before the creature slammed into Anja and took him off the pier and over the other side. The force of the impact against the water stunned the Drykas, and he felt his sword slip out of his grip and sink into the water below.

Anja was blind and helpless under the water, but he could still sense the ghost within the shark, swimming away from him swiftly before spinning around and charging at him at breakneck speed. Anja flailed around in the water, and felt his hands brush against something old, wrinkled, and cold. Anja yanked the corpse up and cast it in the direction of the shark just in time for the creature to collide, teeth gnashing, with the long dead rotten body. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction and thanking every God he knew that the water was not too deep, Anja shoved against the bottom and pushed his head up over the surface of the water and inhaled a desperate breath of air. He scanned the surface of the water frantically. Where was Kailani?!

(NaNo 742)
User avatar
Anja Nightwatcher
Ghost Hunter
 
Posts: 262
Words: 298384
Joined roleplay: February 15th, 2018, 3:26 pm
Race: Human, Drykas
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes

A Tale of Drowned Men (Kailani)

Postby Kailani on November 23rd, 2018, 4:35 am

Whatever Anja did, it worked—taking the shark’s attention away from her long enough for her to catch a moment of reprieve. Kailani broke above the surface and gulped in a few desperate lungfuls of air, doing her best to ignore the throbbing of her ribs. She swam several strokes away from the possessed animal as she briefly pondered her next move, debating whether or not to try to take control of the shark again. Would the results be any different than before? Or would they serve to distract her again and give their opponent another opening to attack?

A loud splash caught her attention as the impact of the shark against the dock sent Anja flying and his blade along with him. That’s it! The sword! Kailani took as deep of a breath as she could before she plunged beneath the waves again, propelling herself forward as rapidly as her legs would take her. Further and further down she went until she reached the bottom where a glint of metal caught her eye. There! Grasping the hilt of the blade, she pulled it free of the mud that threatened to ensnare it.

The bastard sword was clumsy in her grip, but with it, she saw the perfect opportunity. The shark was gearing up for another attack on Anja, the telltale swish of its tail giving away its intentions. I’m sorry, fin brother, she thought as she swam to intercept the shark. But no, you don’t! Leveraging the sword as she swam up on her adversary, the large fish chose just the wrong moment to turn. Through pure dumb luck, she managed to slice clean through the creature’s gill slits, her frantic angling of the blade driving it upward through the juvenile cartilage and straight toward the creature’s brain.

Oceanus mark glowing through the hazy water, she could feel the animal’s life force quickly slipping away. The shark thrashed about in its death throes, but Kai kept a firm grip on the sword’s hilt—even as she was violently jerked back and forth with the creature’s frantic motions. At last, the shark went limp, the Svefra’s shoulders slumping in relief. Placing her foot against the animal’s face, she pushed, straining hard until she managed to yank Anja’s sword free of its flesh. She felt a moment of sadness for the creature’s demise, but if it were a choice between them and it… Kailani chose them.

The moment she felt the creature pass, she saw a bright light leave its body, heading toward her before it simply… disappeared. She paused for only a moment to stare at the spot it had just been, blinking a few times in confusion before just shaking her head. Was it over? Just like that? I suppose it could only hold out for so long, she thought as she turned in the opposite direction, heading back toward what remained of the dock. Gods only know what sort of energy it took just to do all that.

Dragging the heavy sword behind her, Kailani pushed herself toward the surface again, swimming through the slowly blooming cloud of blood leaking from the shark’s wounds. Not just a graveyard for humans any more, she thought idly as her head broke above water. Her gasp was quickly interrupted by a wracking cough, spewing what felt like half a gallon of seawater from her lungs.

That golden head moved left and right as she sought her spiritist companion, heart swelling with relief as she finally spotted him, closer to the pier. “Anja!” she called out to alert him of her location, pulling herself through the water toward him. It was only a chime or two before she rejoined him and offered a sheepish smile. Treading water in front of him, she offered the Drykas his bastard sword. “You dropped this,” she told him, casual as could be, mirth sparkling in those sea blue eyes in spite of their preceding ordeal.

“I think it’s gone,” Kailani told him, sobering a little. The silence of the surrounding harbor seemed to answer in the affirmative, though the Svefra still glanced nervously around them. “When the shark died, I saw something leave his body, and then vanish. Do you feel anything?”

She turned her attention back to Anja, the corner of her lips tilting in a smirk. “Either way. I never thought I’d say this, but let’s get out of this water, eh?” Her laugh was unsteady as she shook her head. “I think I’ve had about all I can take of Dead Man’s Swagger.”

Should nothing else try to hamper their progress, Kailani would start swimming for the shore. As soon as her feet could touch the bottom, she practically ran toward land, glancing back all the while to make sure nothing followed. It was with a shuddering sigh of relief that she stepped onshore, standing and waiting for Anja to join her.

“Well, that was exciting,” she finally commented, the simple words falling drastically short of their eventful encounter. Water dripped from her clothes onto the sand, Kai reaching to tug off her water-logged boots. She hardly even noticed how drenched she was, so relieved to be out of the corpse-ridden waters surrounding the dock. The Svefra offered Anja a grin at her severe understatement before she started wringing out her hastily removed socks.

NaNo WC: 891


Image
Kailani
Daughter of the Sea
 
Posts: 153
Words: 176158
Joined roleplay: September 16th, 2018, 5:16 am
Location: Sunberth
Race: Human, Svefra
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 1
Overlored (1)

A Tale of Drowned Men (Kailani)

Postby Anja Nightwatcher on November 25th, 2018, 1:57 am

Image
A sharp whinny pierced the sound of waves against water and Anja's frantic gasps for air. The Drykas turned to stare with stunned eyes Maisa plunged from the shore into the water. “No!” Anja shouted, horrified. “You petching cultakh! There's a shark in here!” His horrified words came out in a garbled mixture of Pavi and Common. Maisa, although she got the gist, ignored him, plunging into the waters with a self assured determination that could split stone. The powerful kicks of her legs kept her head well above the top of the water, and upon reaching Anja she seized him by the collar with her teeth and yanked him towards her back. The Drykas was horrified at his strider risking herself, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. It didn't take much encouragement for him to grab Maisa's mane and pull himself up onto his strider. From his elevated position, Anja scanned the surface of the water. He saw the flash of white under the waves as the shark circled in preparation to attack, and kicked Maisa towards the shore. But swimming was not a strider's strength, and Anja knew they would not make it in time. He gritted his teeth and braced for impact, fully prepared to take the strike so that Maisa didn't.

The blow he expected did not come. A cloud of blood blossomed in the water, and Anja felt the ghost struck from the shark's body like the crack of ice. When Kailani emerged from the surface of water with his bastard sword in her hand and began paddling towards him, all Anja could do for a moment was stare at her dumbfounded. When he finally managed to process what had happened, a relieved, deep laugh burst from his mouth. “You certainly are something else, aren't you Miss Kailani?” Despite Maisa's low rumble of mild protest, Anja pulled Kailani onto Maisa's back, and nudged her towards shore, although the strider needed no further encouragement. Maisa was quietly complacent. Anja had the sense that Kailani's rescue of them had netted the sverfra points as far as the suspicious strider was concerned. He took his sword back from the woman, carefully holding it on the other side of Maisa so it wouldn't get in anyone's way.

Kailani's question set Anja thoughtful and he took a long moment with his eyes closed to listen. The mournful song still echoed, but it was distant. “Ghosts can't die,” Anja told Kailani. “They can only be weakened, and dispersed. Our friend is still around. He's just perhaps too weak to show himself. Possession as well as materialization...he was really showing off.” The man would nod in agreement to Kailani's suggestion, and Maisa would happily tow them back to shore.

When their feet found themselves back on solid ground, Anja heaved a sigh of relief and dropped off of Maisa's back. Anja immediately seized Maisa by the head and stared at her in the eyes. “Never do that again,” he said sharply, a tone that did not come easily to him. “You are not a fish. You could have been badly hurt.” Maisa blew straight into Anja's face, and stomped her foot stubbornly. No matter Anja's tone, his strider's intentions were clear. She would do the same thing in a heartbeat if given a chance. Anja sighed in frustration and turned towards Kailani to see the woman upending her boots and wringing out her socks. “I think I need three or four baths,” Anja said with a frown. Following Kailani's lead, Anja also rid his boots and socks of water. He also removed his shirt and sash, and wrung them as close to dry as he could before carefully setting them on Maisa's back. “We were very fortunate you were here,” Anja told Kailani. “Water is not one of our strengths. Even with that aside, you handled yourself extraordinarily well.”

In the orange glow of Syna's fading light, underneath the scars and muscles thinned by poor nutrition, Anja's windmarks, normally hidden beneath his shirt, shone bright against his tanned skin. All along his right arm, up as far as his shoulder, tribal flames intertwined in an intricate pattern. On his back on either shoulder were a pair of vigilant twin jackals sitting at attention, black and white, connected by intertwined tails. Anja let out a deep sigh and wrung corpse water out of his hair. Both of them stunk of death.

A distant sobbing pierced the shadows surrounding them. Anja cast Kailani a piercing look, and still shirtless and bootless, he approached the edge of the dock. Barely visible in the dim light, a transparent figure sat on the collapsed deck, head in his hands.

“Who are you?” Anja asked.

There was a moment of silence between the sobs.

“Does it really even matter?” said the ghost. “I'm ...nothing.” With those words, the ghost quietly faded away. He wasn't gone. His presence still lingered the docks like a fog. But there was nothing left to be said, at least for him.

“I'll be back,” Anja said. “When you're ready.” There was no response from the ghost, so Anja turned back to Kailani with a sigh. “We should probably get out of here,” Anja said. “Before something else decides to attack us. There isn't going to be any more progress made today.”

(NaNo 897)
User avatar
Anja Nightwatcher
Ghost Hunter
 
Posts: 262
Words: 298384
Joined roleplay: February 15th, 2018, 3:26 pm
Race: Human, Drykas
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes

A Tale of Drowned Men (Kailani)

Postby Kailani on November 26th, 2018, 12:23 am

You certainly are something else, aren't you, Miss Kailani? The Svefra grinned at that, seafoam eyes twinkling with mirth. “So I’ve been told,” she quipped as Anja pulled her onto the horse’s back. She carefully swung her leg around to straddle the mare as she’d seen others do, before wrapping her arms around the man’s waist to keep her balance. Kailani had never ridden a horse before, and even with all the events preceding it, the action made her nervous. An anxious little giggle escaped her lips as Maisa swam towards shore, clinging to Anja all the tighter as the mare stepped on land.

Kailani’s dismounting of the horse was decidedly less graceful than Anja’s, holding tight to Maisa’s mane as she swung her leg over. She stumbled as soon as she dropped to the ground, warily eyeing the strider before setting herself to rights. The Svefra hid a smile at Anja’s firm reprimands to his horse as she wrung her clothing out. The mare didn’t seem apologetic in the slightest. Kailani shook her head before laughing at his comment on the quantity of baths he would need. “You’re not the only one. I don’t know how I’ll ever get this smell off me.” She plucked at the fabric of her shirt in disgust and shook her head at the ruined fabric.

The seafarer glanced back at her companion just in time to see him remove his shirt and set it to the side. Syna’s dying light revealed a muscular torso covered in intricate markings and tattoos, a sight Kailani took in with unabashed appreciation. From the flames going up his arms to the jackals on his back, she inspected every inch with the proper appreciation due such a stunning individual. A smile slowly grew across her face as she drank up the sight of him, sapphire eyes roaming his frame from head to toe. It was all she could do not to lick her lips.

It took the woman a moment to realize Anja was speaking to her, so distracted she was by the alluring display. A light blush stained her cheeks, briefly replaying his words in her head. Kailani’s blush only darkened at his praise, waving it off. “I’m sure you would have managed well enough without me,” she said, though internally, she glowed with pride. “I just sped the process along a little, eh?” She grinned over at his strider, nodding in her direction. “Maisa there seems like she could take on a shark or two, no problem.”

Whatever she was going to say next was cut off by the sound of sobs coming from the thrice bedamned pier. Kailani instantly tensed, worried their ghostly friend from before was back to wreak more havoc. It was him, indeed, though his demeanor seemed far different than before. The Svefra stayed back as Anja stepped forward, biting into her lip as she watched their exchange. It seemed over before it began, the ghost flickering back out of sight, much to the sailor’s relief. Even after all the specter had put them through, the Drykas was calm and compassionate, and her admiration for the man only grew. It took a special kind of person to behave with patience and understanding after being so violently attacked.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Kailani replied heartily at Anja’s suggestion that they leave. Unfortunately, her casinor was still moored to the dock, and the Svefra was not exactly enthusiastic to step foot back on its crumpling planks. She supposed she could always swim, but she was even less eager to do that after her unwilling dip into the corpse-infested harbor. The look she cast both the pier and the water was disdainful, but there was nothing for it. Unstable dock, it is, she thought to herself with a brief wrinkle of her nose.

Kailani turned back to Anja with a tired smile. “Well, my spritist friend, that boat is my only home to speak of right now, so it would seem this is where we part ways.” She tipped her head back to look up into his face, her smile deepening. “I would like to say it’s been a pleasure, but… that’s not quite the word I’d use to describe this experience.” The Svefra laughed before she continued, “Nonetheless, it’s been a day I won’t soon forget, and even if I’ll go to sleep tonight with a few more bumps and bruises than I had this morning, I’m glad to have met you.”

Blue eyes sparkled with a kaleidoscopic light as they caught the reflection of Syna’s fading rays, one hand reaching to gently cup his cheek. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be in Sunberth, Anja Nightwatcher, but I do hope I see you again.” One finger lightly trailed down his jaw before she let her hand drop. “Come look for my ship around Baroque Bay,” she encouraged the Drykas, her cheek dimpling with her smile. “I usually dock at the Cherry Bay pier. I’d be happy to give you a ride sometime.”

With that, she winked and turned, stepping carefully onto the damaged wood of the dock. A few hasty steps and she was back onboard her casinor, sighing with relief as she undid the knot mooring The Sunset Tide in place. Raising her sail, she offered another wave in Anja’s direction. “Remember, Cherry Bay pier in Baroque Bay!” she called cheerfully as the wind started to pull her boat away from Dead Man’s Swagger. With a wicked grin, she blew a kiss in his direction before turning away to man the helm.

Her laugh floated back on the wind behind her, fingers wiggling in a wave as she departed. The golden-haired Svefra always did like to make a memorable exit.

NaNo WC: 962


Image
Kailani
Daughter of the Sea
 
Posts: 153
Words: 176158
Joined roleplay: September 16th, 2018, 5:16 am
Location: Sunberth
Race: Human, Svefra
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 1
Overlored (1)

A Tale of Drowned Men (Kailani)

Postby Anja Nightwatcher on December 18th, 2018, 9:25 pm

Image
Anja did not have the presence of mind to recognize Kailani's admiration of his shirtless form, and even if he had nor did he have had the ability to comprehend what that might mean for him. Anja saw the blush and took it to be at the praise he had offered her. He gave her a warm smile in return. “Maisa might be willing to take on a shark or two,” Anja said with a small frown in his Strider's direction. “But I'd be concerned about what state she'd be in afterwards.”

After his interaction with the ghost, and Kailani's agreement to get moving, Anja watched the woman give a petulant look in the direction of her boat still locked on the half collapsed pier. “I don't sense any restlessness from the spirits here,” Anja told her. “You should be able to leave without being harassed.” A small smile played at the man's dark features. “It has certainly been...an event.” Anja agreed. “But although it has been an unprecedented event, I can't deny that it was also a pleasure.” Anja gave the woman a faint bow of his head as a sign of respect, then swung himself up onto Maisa's back. The mare fidgeted, clearly eager to get going after the events of the evening, but Anja sat down hard on her back to remind her to not to suddenly take off. He wasn't quite done.

“You know,” said Anja to Kailani quietly. “I wasn't kidding about teaching you Spiritism. If you are interested in it, please seek me out. I rather think you could be quite good at it.” The man gave Kailani a calm, contemplative look. “If you should wish to find me, you might look to the Dust Bed. You should find people there, and perhaps a friendly ghost or two, who know where to find me. Otherwise, you might seek out The Midnight Gem. I have friends there who also may know where to find me. Please give my offer some consideration.” This was all Anja was able to say before Maisa had finally had enough. Without further word, the Strider launched herself into motion, carrying Anja away from the docks and towards the inner city. Anja allowed himself a glance over his shoulder to catch Kailani in the dim light before her figure vanished in the darkness.
User avatar
Anja Nightwatcher
Ghost Hunter
 
Posts: 262
Words: 298384
Joined roleplay: February 15th, 2018, 3:26 pm
Race: Human, Drykas
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes

A Tale of Drowned Men (Kailani)

Postby Kailani on December 30th, 2018, 7:47 am

Grades!

 
Anja
Skills Earned:
  • Deduction +1
  • Logic +1
  • Observation +5
  • Philosophy +1
  • Riding +1
  • Socialization +5
  • Swimming +1
  • Teaching +1
  • Weapon: Bastard Sword +1
Lores:
  • Dead Man's Swagger: Haunted
  • Drykas: Leave their dead in the open for wildlife to consume
  • Eiyon: Finds comfort in places of death
  • Ghosts: Digging too deep can uncover things they don't want to face
  • Kailani: Marked by Laviku
  • Kailani: Offered to practice Fratava with him
  • Kailani: Rescued him and Maisa from a possessed shark
  • Kailani: Svefra
  • Location: Baroque Bay
  • Location: Dead Man's Swagger
  • Self: Even with a violent ghosts, still wants to give them peace
  • Self: Impressed with Kailani's calm around the ghost
  • Spiritism: Only magic in Sunberth that isn't actively hated
  • Syla: Had she lived, she may have been marked by Zulrav
  • Syla: Rode a strider the way the Svefra ride waves
  • Syla: Was more likely to ride into the storm than away from it

Comments: I absolutely loved this thread! Thank you for writing such a fun story with me. You're a wonderful writer, and I can't wait for a million more!
 
Kailani
Skills Earned:
  • Interrogation +1
  • Logic +1
  • Observation +5
  • Persuasion +1
  • Philosophy +2
  • Riding +1
  • Seduction +1
  • Socialization +5
  • Swimming +2
  • Unarmed Combat +1
  • Weapon: Bastard Sword +1
Lores:
  • Anja: Drykas
  • Anja: Has a kind, peaceful presence
  • Anja: Marked by Dira
  • Anja: Offered to teach her Spiritism
  • Anja: Spiritist
  • Anja: Was married to a Svefra woman
  • Dead Man's Swagger: Haunted
  • Dead Man's Swagger: Surrounded by watery graveyard
  • Ghosts: Can possess animals
  • Ghosts: More dangerous than she expected
  • Location: Baroque Bay
  • Location: Dead Man's Swagger
  • Lore: Riding a horse for the first time
  • Lore: Seeing a ghost for the first time
  • Maisa: Protective of Anja
  • Self: A life lived in caution is no life at all
  • Self: Appreciates Anja's attempt at Fratava
  • Self: Attracted to Anja
  • Self: Fascinated by ghosts
  • Self: Stronger stomach than most
  • Self: Sunberth hasn't hardened her heart yet
  • Spiritism: World magic
  • Svefra: Give their dead back to Laviku

Penalties: Badly bruised ribs


If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!
Kailani
Daughter of the Sea
 
Posts: 153
Words: 176158
Joined roleplay: September 16th, 2018, 5:16 am
Location: Sunberth
Race: Human, Svefra
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 1
Overlored (1)

Previous

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests